Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON — The growing pressure on President Barack Obama to adjust his problem-plagued
health-care law seemed to boil over yesterday, as Democratic party leaders called on him to allow a
change in the law so that Americans who are happy with their health plans can keep them.

In what became the clearest sign yet of Democrats’ increasing anxiety about the troubled rollout
of the health-care law, former President Bill Clinton told the web magazine
Ozymandias that Obama should support such a change to fulfill a promise he and his
administration have made to Americans for years.

“I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the
commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got,” Clinton
told the magazine.

Since the 2010 Affordable Care Act went into effect on Oct. 1, millions of Americans have
discovered their current plans were being canceled because the plans did not meet minimum coverage
levels required by the new law.

Amid criticism that he had broken his promise to those who want to keep their old health plans,
Obama apologized last week for not being more clear in his statements about the law.

But the apology did not do much to tamp down a wave of criticism of the president. That
criticism — combined with the ongoing problems of the HealthCare.gov website that have kept untold
numbers of Americans from signing up for coverage under the new law — appeared to push at least
some Democrats to a breaking point yesterday.

Hours after Clinton’s comments, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said that
although the White House has long resisted alterations to the Affordable Care Act, Democrats should
be open to “constructive changes” to improve the law.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California issued a statement shortly afterward, saying that she would
join Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in sponsoring a bill that would allow Americans to keep their
current insurance plans, even if the plans do not meet the new law’s standards for coverage.

“Too many Americans are struggling to make ends meet,” Feinstein said in a statement. “We must
ensure that in our effort to reform the health-care system, we do not allow unintended consequences
to go unaddressed.”

For Republicans who opposed Obamacare, yesterday’s message was: I told you so.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, said the comments from Democrats signaled “a growing
recognition that Americans were misled when they were promised that they could keep their
coverage."

Republican House leaders have scheduled a vote for this week on a bill offered by Fred Upton of
Michigan that is similar to the Senate bill co-sponsored by Landrieu and Feinstein.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, commenting before Feinstein’s announcement, said yesterday
that Upton’s House bill would cause problems for insurers who were trying to sell plans that met
the basic standards of the new law.

“We do not see that as fixing the problem — we see that as throwing the baby out with the bath
water,” Carney said. “That would cause more problems and create more problems, and do more harm
than any good.”

Carney also said the administration is searching for a way to help those facing cancellations.
He did not provide details.

Beyond the flap over canceled coverage and the website’s problems, the administration has
acknowledged that the first report of enrollment in the health-care program — due this week — will
be underwhelming.

The
Wall Street Journal has reported fewer than 50,000 Americans were able to sign up for new
health-insurance plans in 36 states in October through HealthCare.gov. The administration would not
confirm the number, but it has said that enrollment data will be released this week.

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires that most Americans at least be
enrolled for health insurance by March 31 or pay a fine. Americans must enroll by Dec. 15 for
coverage that begins Jan. 1.